Fr. Stephen Freeman offers the following thoughts in his latest post:

My experience, with regard to the Orthodox faith, has been not so much my keeping the faith - but the faith keeping me. I recall reading, in my late teen years, C.S. Lewis’ autobiography, Surprised by Joy. It is clear that when Lewis relates his conversion to the Christian faith, he no longer asked the question: 'What do I believe?' but rather asked the question: 'What is a Christian to believe?' Thus, he turned his attention to Scripture and to the Fathers of the Church. The universal quality of his Christian writing is that he simply speaks from the depths of the Christian faith rather than from the depths of his own delusions and imagination. Becoming a Christian means learning what it is to be kept by the faith rather than simply joining an organization and then setting about picking and choosing one’s personal doctrines.

There is not much to add to that. Our faith is not something internal and unique to ourselves, but it is the outpouring of the Spirit's work in us. We need to understand our faith as being rooted in God, not in us. And that is an important reminder in a man-centered culture. Whatever doctrines and ideas we come up with and choose to believe in, we must always test them against the truth of God's Word. There is no room for individual preference and picking and choosing. "The Lord’s word trumps your theology, all the time, every time" (HT: Scott). After all, faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.